Antisemitism

An Egyptian man who daubed antisemitic graffiti on posters advertising the work of Lord Sugar and Steven Spielberg has been cleared of having a racially or religiously aggravated motive.

Yacoub Osman, 53, chose Chalk Farm Tube station, used by a large number of Jewish Londoners, for his month-long spree of scrawling anti-Israel slogans and a Nazi swastika, Blackfriars Crown Court was told last

The student 1a>convicted of a racially aggravated attack1b> on a Jewish student at St Andrews University was defiant this week, despite his sentence of 150 hours of community service and a £300 fine of compensation to his victim.

In his writing shed Roald Dahl created friendly giants, giant peaches and horrible headteachers, but in the last few years of his life, the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory author revealed that he held virulently antisemitic views.

The journalist Johann Hari has admitted being behind a string of fake Wikipedia entries, including one where another commentator was described as "antisemitic".

Mr Hari became 2a>the subject of a media storm2b> in June after it emerged that an interview with Haaretz writer Gideon Levy included Mr Levy's exact comments in a piece he had written at an earlier date.

A student who racially abused a Jewish student at St Andrews University has been sentenced to 150 hours of community service.

Paul Donnachie was convicted of racially abusing Chanan Reitblat at his halls of residence in March, when he put his hands down his trousers and rubbed his genitals before wiping his hands on an Israeli flag.

The US sports network ESPN has clamped down on fantasy football teams with antisemitic names.

The decision to remove from its website teams with names including "Jews are Immoral" and "Jews Are Terrible" came after the human rights organisation the Simon Wiesenthal Centre highlighted the issue, after a Jewish parent noticed the content while signing up his son.

Last month the New York Times writer Roger Cohen, who was brought up in Britain and is now an American, wrote a piece about English antisemitism. A lodger at his sister's house in England had looked at Cohen's BlackBerry mobile phone and said, "Oh you've got a JewBerry," so–called, the lodger explained, because BlackBerry Messenger is free and Jews always get things free.